Even Dogs Eat The Crumbs

In your prayer life, remember that Jesus has priorities with you as well. There isn’t the Jew/Gentile thing anymore. However, He is more concerned with your SPIRITUAL welfare than with your PHYSICAL welfare. That is HIS priority. If, in your prayers, you are asking for something PHYSICAL - and you think you really needing it, and Jesus seems to say - “this isn’t my priority for you,” don’t get angry with Him. If he doesn’t seem to answer a Word - don’t get all worked up about it. It can even be in spiritual things. Let’s say you’re praying to God and saying, “Lord, please make my husband more caring. Please - help him to listen better to me and my needs.” Jesus may not seem to listen to you - as your spouse continues down the same uncaring path. But maybe through this silence God is answering you by saying, “why not pray that I give you more patience instead?” Get the idea? He’s got different priorities than you. Don’t get miffed if He at first doesn’t seem to listen.

Instead of talking about how much her daughter was suffering, or accusing Jesus of being an uncaring Lord, how does the woman then respond? The woman came and knelt before him. “Lord, help me!” she said. She isn’t too proud to beg. That’s the true sign of a dog. Dogs have absolutely no pride. We used to have a dog named Tippy, and he didn’t hesitate one moment to sit there and stare at me - while I was eating. I would get mad at him - shove his head away and tell him to quit bugging me. But he’d just keep looking at me with those puppy dog eyes - drooling away. So sometimes I gave in and gave him some scraps right from the table. That’s how God wants us to be. Don’t’ be too proud to beg! Don’t be afraid to get on your knees and show some humility before God. Don’t worry about whether your knees hurt or whether your clothes will be soiled or how uncomfortable you feel. Don’t be too proud to bow before the Lord and ask for help. When you remember you were just a dog - you won’t be too proud to beg God for something.

III. Be glad to eat the crumbs

How did Jesus respond to the woman? He replied, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to their dogs.” Even with this show of humility, Jesus felt no obligation to answer the woman’s request. Even if we get on our knees and beg God he doesn’t have to answer our prayer. The point Jesus was making again was that His primary mission of preaching on earth was to go to His chosen children - the Jews. Why should He then go aside from that mission to take care of this Gentile dog? If He were to ignore His calling to go and feed these “dogs,” he would not be doing what was “right.”

In this answer, it would appear that Jesus was shutting the door on the Gentile woman and saying, don’t bother me woman!” But it was that tiny phrase “dog” - that we need to revisit. This was NOT the term for the ugly and ravenous beasts that ran the streets of Jerusalem. This was the word for “little dogs” - the family pet. Sometimes family pets are more pampered than the children. Jesus said this shouldn’t be - but the point is that the pet dog is still a part of the family. Instead of looking at this answer as a door slamming shut, the Canaanite woman looked at it as an open door. “Yes, Lord,” she said, “but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” She was saying to Jesus, “I’m not asking for the main course from you Jesus. All I’d like is one little scrap from your table.” She regarded this healing of her daughter from DEMON possession as just a scrap - and that’s all she wanted - a scrap of Jesus time.